Beware the Storms
by Rose on a Corpse
Summary: "It's in Sanji's nature to be more concerned about others wellbeing than his own, so there's no surprise when he wastes no time hesitating and jumps off the ship to go and get poor Chopper back on the middle of a wild storm. ¿How could the crew's adventure get affected, when hell breaks loose due to this decision?" - Rating may vary as story keeps going
1. Chapter 1

_Title: Beware the storm_

 _Rating: T - it may increase as story goes by_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own One piece, but whouldn't mind to do so!_

* * *

Hardness.

"It's strange how a liquid mass could possibly feel as HARD", Sanji thought as hitting the surface, head first, and dipping into the sea.

Angry waves causing his body to tumble up and down like a rag doll, it took a long, desperate moment to try and decide which way to go when seeking up. UP, rising to the surface and to a most needed fresh breathe of AIR.

Nobody would tell, by the looks of it when he finally make it to the surface, that an uncoordinate, desperate gasping creature as he may appear could possibly be the best swimmer of the Straw Hat's gang –not that competence was so hard to beat anyway–. Gulping down a huge breath of mixed oxygen and sea water, he ignited a frenzy pedaling movement underwater while trying to spot the ship again. It took him some tortuous long minutes (or more like seconds, but he could swear they felt like a lot more) to see a thing on the blackened atmosphere; salty water clinging to his eyelashes as he fought to stay afloat, heavy rain drops pouring all over blurring his surroundings but, finally, he turned around for the umpteenth time and caught a glimpse of Thousand Sunny bravely riding the storm about a mile away. Even though he knew the crew was still there doing their best to control the situation, he can't avoid a pang of panic seeing as the ship quickly floated away from him, the current so strong. He definitely needed to move fast, too, so casting a last quick general glance to his surroundings he took a deep breath before diving again.

As his vision grew accustomed to darkness he tried to focus on finding a flash of color which guides him to his fallen comrade. Sanji knew better than to randomly swim to nowhere, not sure of the right direction to go to, so he let himself slowly sink while searching for poor Chopper, coldness quickly biting to the bone. They were approaching a winter island when the storm stroked, so water was more than a little cool and that troubled him the most since it may be even tougher to get his nakama back when numbness starts to kick in. Fists clenching and unclenching as he instinctively tried to keep the blood moving to his peripheral limbs, he slowly stroked turning in a circular movement, knowing there couldn't have passed more than maybe a minute since the reindeer fell off the ship, so even when sinking as a hammer he couldn't possibly be out of sight already… could he?

Currents flew slower as he kept sinking lower, and as darkness gradually engulfed his surroundings, the only source of light being the eventual lightning up there he tried his best to sharpen his vision to its finest struggling to promptly locate Chopper. Storm sounds fading by the distance, the mass of water whispering its own private sounds to his ears. Both coldness and oxygen depriving already making his limbs numb and heavy, Sanji was about to start swimming up to catch his breath when a sudden flash of bright PINK caught his attention: Chopper's hat floating about ten feet under him, gently swaying while drifting to the bottom of the sea. Pushing away the slight burning on his lungs Sanji wasted no time on stroking down to catch the item and the sudden flash of a lightning revealed Chopper's inert form sprawled there on the muddy depths, partially buried by the bottom's tossed soil. Thanking whatever God there is to thank for the sea ground being quite high on this area, Sanji dived even further and not so graciously grabbed Chopper by his antlers to pull him off his muddy prison before firmly bracing his limp body to his chest. He then took some leverage stepping on the bottom to take off on the surface general direction.

Rising turned into his personal hell as his lungs screamed for fresh air, surface always too far for comfort, so when he finally reached his so awaited goal the simple effort it took for him to break water's superficial tension felt as if trying to pass through a granite block.

Sanji desperately gasped for air while trying to stay afloat by furiously kicking the water underneath, both water saltiness and the unexpected frozen breeze blowing up there causing his eyes to instantly water. The déjà vu sensation hit him hard as he frantically turned around trying to locate Thousand Sunny, but fortunately it doesn't took long for him to spot the ship a fair distance away, still facing the non-relenting storm, and he wasted no time either to start swimming towards it, firmly gripping Chopper's frame against him.

He mutely thanked when seeing his favorite redhead lowering a ladder over the rail as he reached the ship, though can't avoid to get startled as the girl almost fell by the gunwale when a particularly big wave crashed against the hull. His numb fingers failed to close around the rope stairs at first, fear kicking in as his hands slipped and he suddenly sank, almost losing his grip on Chopper for a moment. It took all his will power to concentrate and fight the stiffness on his limbs to ever so slowly climb up the ladder, letting Nami and Usopp grab him by the jacket on the last flight and pull him up and over the rail. –Ch-chopper..- is all he managed to say between heavy shivering and teeth chatter, handing over his limp nakama which the redhead quickly took into her arms before running to the inside of the ship, as the long nosed snipper stayed by his side and helped him get up. –Sanji, can you stand?-. Usopp yelled more than asked on his ear, wind near deafening around them, and he managed a curt nod while clenching his jaw to avoid the chattering sound –Yeah. Go now-. He saw the snipper runs off and took a minute to collect himself, railing in a vice-like grip on his left hand as he casted a quick glance around to recall the situation: no fruit user to be seen, they all provably locked into the ship after Chopper's fall to avoid any more last-minute rescues. Which let it to just the marimo, Usopp, Franky, Nami and himself to fix Thousand Sunny out there… except Nami, actually, since she hadn't come back after taking Chopper in. He spotted the blue haired handyman up above the foremast, working on reefing the foresail by hand but obviously having a hard time on getting it secured, and same for the swordsman who had the mainsail half reefed only. Seeing as the longnose was already on its way up the foremast to help Franky he put himself to a good use and started climbing the mast as quickly as his shivering limbs will allow him to. Reaching the top, the green headed bastard greeted him by barking to get the sail up already, and he'd gratefully barked him back to 'go get bossy with yer ass', but the heavy quivering up the mast prevented him to.

Despite his highly uncooperative cold fingers they kind of achieved to reef the sail, but his hands wouldn't let him properly secure it so after frankly trying he finally resumed to suck it up and shouted to the swordsman to get his ass there and get that shit tied. As a pretty much grumpy Zoro approached Sanji kept holding the bunched sail onto place, and maintained his stiff grip until seeing it properly secured. –Lets get the fuck down already!- He shouted to Zoro and impelled him to move forward by shoving his shoulder, getting a grumpy come back in exchange. They both reached the mast and carefully started getting down the ladder, body pressed flat to avoid being swept by the wind and pausing on each step down to blindly search the next one with their feet, reaching deck taking them a hell of a lot more time and effort than normal.

Finally feeling the familiar wooden planks under his feet, Sanji took a moment to breathe and slid down to a sitting position resting his back on the mast, finally letting himself relax: work was done, they'd be fine now.

-Hey, you taking a nap there?- Zoro's voice have him sluggishly opening his eyes even when he hadn't noticed closing them, but he couldn't find the will on him to move anymore. –M'cold…- he managed to mumble, letting eyelids slip closed again. He could feel his body not so gently swaying as the green headed bastard tried to get him to respond, but he felt too drained he won't even react when being unceremoniously lifted off the floor.

* * *

 ** _Freetalk:_**

 _I may confess, I originally thought of this story as the somewhat typical "some crew member falls off the ship, then some other goes after him in rescue and they both kind of out of the blue end tangled together and all lovey-dovey"… because, YES, I just love those kind of plots and fuck it. But as I started actually typing it took its own twists and turns and it felt like the story could offer some more (?). Dunno, this is one is a lot of firsts for me: it is my first long –or not so long, let's better resume it as multichaptered since its length is still not stablished- fanfic, it is my first writing at all on a long, LONG time, and it may also be my first seeking for a lemony plot and then changing my mind about it (I never thought, EVER, this may possibly occur to me)._

 _So, as to summarize, I'm turning this into a multichaptered story about, maybe, four or five chapters long? –not sure-, and there's no guarantee lemons may appear at any rate –if they do, I can assure you it'd be ZOSAN because, yeah-._

 _I'd highly appreciate any review of this story and, as for my final first: this is my first time trying to write a fanfic in English, though I always read stories from other writers and all… so, it'd be of great help for me to get some opinions of my writing skills. Please be compassionate (?)._


	2. Chapter 2

_Title: Beware the storm_

 _Rating: T - it may increase as story goes by_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own One piece, but whouldn't mind to do so!_

* * *

It was a regular day aboard Thousand Sunny. Everyone was doing their usual chores (or lack of), more like letting the time lazily pass through while enjoying their personal favorite activities: Cook was prepping dinner already; Franky and Usopp excitedly working on some new SUPER crazy invention which could or could not end being more trouble than help but, whatever… girls where nowhere to be seen, provably quartered on their specific kingdoms: being the library for the brunette, who may be carefully studying some book, and her studio for the redhead, who'd busy herself on mapping the last island they visited. There could be heard the soft tune of a violin from quite a fair distance, coming from the inside of the ship then… maybe the aquarium and, since Chopper and Luffy where not at sight either it was to suppose they'd likely be keeping company to the musician, which could be why now and then the tune will suddenly change its pace as if asked for a more vivid one.

They were already aware of how voluble weather could be when on Grand Line, so the faded sun shine should've rang a bell to make them put their asses to good use and properly arrange the ship for the incoming storm, but as everyone seemed to agree on staying inwards that day since as they were approaching a winter island the temperature was quite chill, the so called Marimo must agree maybe he was to blame for not noticing at all the fast forming mass of dark clouds in front of them, as instead of carefully surveilling the horizon as he was supposed to he was more occupied on counting his pushups. Truth to be told, surveillance aboard Thousand Sunny had always been kinda the opportunity to doze off on the crow's nest without unwanted interruption but for the always welcomed midnight snack, and he could swear that was applicable for all of them minus, maybe, Usopp who kinda enjoyed the surveillance job.

Due to all those misfortunate circumstances, first sign they noticed of the weather turn was the sudden change of pace the ship was rocked by, swaying from the former lulling swing to a quite violent rocking. Landing face first on mid-pushup, Zoro quickly scrambled to his feet and reached the window to peep out, wondering which may be the cause for the quake. –For fuck's sake…- he breathed out as finding themselves enclosed under a thick mass of dark clouds, wind blowing so strongly Nami's tangerine trees wiggled wildly about to be torn from the root.

Zoro quickly made it to the communication system Franky installed on the crow's nest when working on Sunny. –We're getting into a monster of a storm there! Get yer' asses up the deck right now!- shouted into the handset before rushing to the trap to get down.

As he reached deck some of his crewmates were also coming out and gathering around a troubled-looking navigator, who fumbled with the buttons of her bright yellow rain coat while eyeing the stormy clouds above them with a furrowed brow. -How could it…? So fast!- mumbled the redhead before dropping her gaze on him –Haven't you seen this coming? I mean, this can't possibly just appeared from nowhere!- complained as gesturing up for more emphasis, to which Zoro almost sheepishly shrugged and tried to defend himself –Not like I'm the weather-expert here or something!-, even when a little interior voice actually told him that she was, indeed, right –Maybe the one most suited to survey this shit must've been more alert, ya' know-. And Nami was most likely about to talk him back but her personal half-assed lapdog hurried to chime in –You implying something, bastard? Sweet Nami-swan is not at fault for shit..!- and so they were about to jump at each other's throat, when sudden first droplets landed between them, all gazes instantly gluing to the damp round spot at their feet, around which quickly started to form a growing dotted pattern. –There's no time for fuss now- Luffy's voice easily cracked the silence they all had fallen into as the argument faded, tone serene but firm, all cheeriness gone as a clear sign that situation was not to laugh of. The captain's dark gaze fell on the redhead –Nami, can you let us outta here?- and then traveled for all his crew members as to make sure they all were properly listening –Let's get our asses into action before it worsens- he finished the circle on the cook –I won't want dinner to get late-. And with that final statement, they all sprang into action.

The redheaded navigator posted herself on the prow together with Luffy who took on the helm, and under Nami's steady commands, the Strawhats quickly started functioning as a well-oiled machine. First off, it was necessary to retrieve all moving items from deck, such as barrels, deckchairs, and any other stuff the storm may send overboard, for which Chopper, Franky and Usopp teamed up. On the other hand, Robin and Brook headed inwards to go secure things up inside the ship. That let Zoro and Sanji to handle the sails but, before they could even start climbing up the ladder a big wave swept the deck forcing them all to hurry and grab onto whatever they can. As the huge mass of water drained between the rail bars they hear Nami call for them –Everyone OK?!-. Almost engulfed by the howling wind sounded Usopp winy voice coming from the stern, exactly the opposite location he was when the wave crashed on them –I swear I've swallowed half a _Blue_ just now, but still onboard!-, and similar complaints sounded as Franky tried his best to break free from Nami's tangerine trees without causing further damage. Luffy made himself audible over the wind too, and after untangling himself from the ladder he'd been left hanging upside-down as the wave passed by, Zoro shouted a curt –Fine here!-, too. It took some long seconds for the crew to hear an assuring –Still here!- coming from the cook, as he had almost been washed away from the deck and stayed aboard just thanks to being thrown against the rail, where he gripped for dear life. –Chopper?!- the captain shouted more than asked after some tense seconds, all other crewmates already rushing to peek over the rail as there was no response from the reindeer. –Had he fell off?- asked the snipper's flickering voice, -Someone go fish him before currents make him lost!- ordered the navigator, a pang of fear on her voice. –Marimo!- Zoro stopped himself about to jump off the rail to shot a questioning yet offended glare to the cook's direction, that meaning the general area where the voice had come from, as the curtain of water was starting to make it difficult to see a thing beyond 5 feet distance. –Not the best moment for you to go and make your directionally challenged mossy ass lost down there, too.- And Zoro got no chance to talk him back, as a bony hand emerged from the curtain of water to push him off the rail and he could catch a glimpse of the blonde's dark silhouette gracefully jumping overboard.

From that instant on, hell broke loose over them.

Any crew member on deck spent half a second to peep over the rail, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of their fallen friends and unsure of what to do next. That half a second, however, was what took for Nami to get the gears in her head to start functioning again, and wasted no more time in taking the reins again so the situation won't get any worse. –Franky!- the blue haired guy jumped on his spot at being called, secondarily unfazed. –Go drop the anchor, we need to wait for Sanji and Chopper to came back!-. The bulky cyborg did as told, while the rest of the crew rushed to resume their former tasks at getting the ship ready to ride the storm. –Luffy!- the redhead turned then to their captain, who keep struggling with the helm and twisted his rubbery neck in the most awkward way to look at her. –Leave that for now and please go tell Robin and Brook to prep for when those two idiots came back! They'd most surely need a warm change of clothes, and I want everything settled in case we got any complication!-. Luffy seemed about to oppose, but something on the navigator's determined gaze made him change his mind and rushed to follow her command. Once the raven-haired boy was gone, Nami blocked the helm by herself and waited for the shipwright to finish his task before set up the next commands. –Franky and Zoro, you two go reef the sails!- she shouted while pointing to the masts general direction to emphasize, -And Usopp, you stay with me and help me fish those two when they show up!- which, she wished, won't take much longer since situation was already bad enough as it was.

Each one diligently focused on their designed task at hand, so while the stronger men started to carefully climb up the masts defying the howling wind, Nami and Usopp braced themselves on the railing scanning the enraged dark water below for any sign of their nakama. The snipper, equipped with his long-sight goggles was the first to catch a glimpse of familiar golden hair as Sanji broke the surface. -Sanji! Here he is, and… yeah, he has Chopper with him!-. He excitedly shouted while shaking Nami's shoulder in awe, to which she couldn't do less than to let a soothing breath out before hurrying to throw a rope ladder overboard for the approaching blond to use.

It took some agonizing long minutes for Sanji to finally reach the ladder and start climbing it, and as soon as he got under arm-reach both Nami and Usopp grabbed him by the blazer and pulled them both up, slumping on a shivering pile of damp limbs. Wasting no time, the redhead took an unconscious Chopper inside the ship while the snipper stayed to make sure Sanji was alright, which he apparently was aside from the evident coldness and exertion, so he wasted no time in rushing to go help Franky as soon as the blond cook told him to.

Zoro was also having serious problems to reef the mainsail all by himself, with such a strong wind pulling the fabric in any direction. Even when using all the strength packed on his thick arms all he'd got were a half mast sail and abrasion burns on both hands from the rope pulling. That's why when he saw Sanji coming to him he quickly batted the surprise away and took the offered help. With the extra pair of hands holding it down it got considerably easier to reef and secure the sail, despite the prissy Cook needing him to go and tie the line for him, which should've rang a bell for him, yet again, being Sanji as prideful of a bastard as he is, but he just couldn't focus on anything more than to finish things up there and go put some roof over his head. And that kept on being the only thought wandering on his mind all the way to the deck and then heading inwards, so it took a long moment for him to notice there was no one coming after him. –Cook?-. He spun round to find the blonde most definitely slumped against the mast. -Hey, you taking a nap there?-. So he came back and crouched near the cook's limp body, bringing a hand forward to lightly slap his face as he saw blue eyes sluggishly opening and then slipping closed again, and just then realized how "pale" had just grown into a whole different level there. He spun the cook's limp body up over his shoulder and rushed to the ship's belly; the cook's skin felt damp and impossibly cold to the touch, but which troubled him the most was how the bastard's breath was so even it took him a minute to decide whether he was, or not, still breathing.

* * *

-Cook's fucked up!- Zoro stormed onto the ship shouting for someone to come over, hopefully a fully recovered Chopper or, at least, one of the girls.

He settled with the second option as Nami showed up and hurried towards him, all the while listing instructions to Luffy, who spared a quick worried glance to his fallen comrade before nodding in agreement with whatever the redhead was talking him about and left them. –What's happening?- asked the girl without peeling his gaze from the cook, concentrated on repeating the same ritual Zoro performed few minutes ago: slapping, _hey_ -eing, then shaking the un-responding cook. –He's not responding.- Stated the swordsman matter-of-factly, to which the redhead wasted a brief second to consecrate an eye-roll before resuming her exam. –Let's go. Carry him!- She instructed before kicking into motion. –We've been able to revive Chopper, but he's incredibly cold and totally drained and near frozen, so we can't count on him at all now. Robin's still trying to warm him up.- On their way to the sick bay, Nami briefly explained how they had to use CPR to revive Chopper and almost lost him a while ago, and when finally pushing the heavy wooden door they were greeted by an anxious Nico Robin holding a heavily shivering, quilt-wrapped Chopper, pacing up and down the room as if trying to lull a restless baby to sleep, Brook apparently gone to warm some water.

Carefully following Nami's instructions, Zoro maneuvered the unconscious cook while she made a fast work of undressing the cook, the damp clothes unceremoniously tossed on a growing heap on the floor, to which the swordsman could totally recall the soon-to-be picture of Franky fuming about the wooden planks swelling by being soaked in seawater, but obviously kept silent. Once finished, a mildly uncomfortable Zoro was impelled to scoop the naked blonde up and lay him on the mattress, stepping apart then to let the redhead arrange the covers and hoping for his job there to be done, but obviously pulling some sheets up won't take as long as to buy him time enough to sneak away, so instead of rushing outta the now crowded room he got glued to the spot with Nami's next statement. –Zoro, you stay. There's enough people outta here to take on the ship, and nothing much to do there anymore, so you better undress too-. The thought sounded so casual It took a moment for him to realize what the girl had just so calmly suggested him to do -WHAT?-, and he could swear his current expression must be worth risking prank like that, but apparently there was no joke at all as the brunette chimed in to explain. –Cook-san is too cold to produce heat on his own, so you need to lay next to him to help his body take some of yours. That's also what I'm doing with Doctor-san here-, and damn her for being so smart, because Zoro got no chance to slip his _"¿and why ain't you naked?_ " before she carried on with her not-less-damned-for-being-reasonable explanation -…but as he is a reindeer his heat maintenance system works better than a human's, so he's recovering quite nicely with just little help-. Being the good bitchy witch she is, Nami also wasted no time to push it –C'mon Zoro, it's not that big of a deal! You're bigger than us so you'll warm him up better-, she negotiated, quite surprisingly not bringing out yet the debt-issue but already as confident as to step and reach out for his jacket. He would've loved to reprimand her for the fresh-baked strip obsession she was, in his humble opinion, recently sporting but he knows better than to protest so just he resumed to grumpily comply, all the while grumbling as a half-assed passive resistance. That shit-cook'll totally owe him real BIG for this…

His also wet clothes piled up on the floor with the cook's and he awkwardly laid on the mattress near him, the Witch compelling him to hug him closely to which WHAT THE FUCK but he reluctantly complying, angry-blush crawling up his face both in shame and irritation and thanks to whatever God is responsible for the girls not commenting on that because it would've totally been the straw breaking the camel's back. He blanked his mind and did his best not to register the soft tickling of the cook's hairy legs against his own, how tobacco's scent still clang to his golden strands even after soaking in seawater, or the way his breath felt so HOT against his chest when he pulled him closer, frozen-salty-sticky skin instantly making him chilly too.

Brook showed up then, with an armful of hot water bottles which he remember them stocking on the last winter island they visited, and Nami hurried to help him stuff them into the bed, unceremoniously moving the covers away to do so, then pulling them up again as if nothing had happened. –Keep those here with you to help him get warmer.- She instructed all the while lifting the covers at the bed's end to slip one more warm bottle right between the tangle their feet were in. Robin got closer to the bed and crouched to ask him –Do you mind taking care of Chopper too? This way we could go prep some warm clothes for when the others come-, to which Zoro just shrugged, too occupied trying not to kick some bottle outta the bed when lifting the covers the strictly necessary to welcome the little reindeer to the improvised non-pajamas party. –We'll bring warm soup for you all in a while. Please call us if something happen...- promised the brunette, handling the blankets and tucking them in a cocoon-like manner, looking so much like a _mother_ Zoro had the momentarily impression he'd shrunk back to five. -Aye, aye- he finally cut, and so both girls left the room. The tall skeleton offered to help, but -… although I'm not warm at all, since I'm just bones- he half-heartedly skull-joked, a pang of guilt on his usually cheerful voice, and finally decided to go too.

Now alone, Zoro let himself relax too, as much as possible at least when being sandwiched on the narrow bed with his two unconscious nakama, whose bodies were still too cold for comfort. As seconds sluggishly ticked by, he dropped his gaze both in boredom and mild interest to check on them. Chopper seemed to be in a deep sleep, having curled in a tight furry ball against his broad chest as soon as he hit the mattress, and only moved every now and then in a spasm-like, gently rustle of hooves, apparently pursuing –or maybe pushing away- something on is dream. His fur still feelt slightly damp and chilly, but raking between the strands with his fingers he could feel the heated skin underneath and his heart's steady beat. Sanji, on the other hand, laid completely still, his body stiff and breathing superficial, and Zoro propped himself on his elbow to tower over him and properly study his features: his naturally pale skin looked almost transparent now to the point where blue tinged his dry lips, and over that bleached canvas two angry red circles stand out on his cheeks, which he mildly remembered Chopper telling them had something to do with coldness, but can't quite pinpoint the rest. He kept staring for a long moment, not used to see the cook's face as quiet, nor as close. Someone –provably one of the girls- had lit a lantern to keep the room illuminated, and its orange dim light casted dancing shadows on Sanji's face, giving the illusion his eyelashes fluttered, and it surprised him to realize they're a shade darker than his light hair, and quite long like a girl's.

Resting his head on the pillow again, he hugged the lax bodies more closely to him and let his gaze linger on the cook's face for a moment longer, amazed by his absolute stillness and not totally troubled by the closeness, slowly adjusting to the rhythmic, quiet breathing and letting his eyes slip closed too.

* * *

On the next few hours, all the crew members eventually paid a visit at the convalescent's room, each giving their best wishes for them to recover quickly, and offering to bring yet another sheet, to go warm the water bottles or whatever. Robin's presence waked Zoro up around midnight, even when he couldn't remember having fallen sleep after last visit Usopp paid a while ago to tell him the storm was over and Sunny had got over it without big damage. –Sworsman-san, I've made some porridge for everyone, would you want some?-, the brunette gently offered while placing a tray with three steaming bowls on the bed's edge. He welcomed the warm treat, suddenly noticing how hungry he actually was, and indolently sat up and start to slowly eat, while seeing how the girl checked on their still asleep nakama. –You trying to wake them up?- he asked, setting the bowl on his lap, and quietly observed as she propped Chopper's head up a little and gently shook his small frame, earning a soft whine from the soundly asleep reindeer, who after a while finally cracked his sleep-puffed eyes open. Zoro, who had already finished his meal, set the bowl on the tray again and helped him sit straight as he lovely rubbed the sleep away. –What happened…?- the reindeer started to ask, apparently a little confused as he checked his surroundings, but abruptly stopped mid-track when founding the cook's still form near him. –What're we all doing here?, What's happened to Sanji?, How…? ¡Someone call a doctor…!- he suddenly freaked out launching himself on the unconscious blonde to check his state, the sudden peak of tension making himself feel dizzy again. –Doctor-san. Please don't strain yourself, you must still feel weak...- Robin chimed in, gentle but firmly peeling Chopper off from the cook's and placing the steaming bowl on his lap. –Cook-san jumped off the ship to rescue you when you fell. You came back unconscious and almost frozen, we had a hard time getting you back...- Zoro helped her explanation adding how the cook had helped him reefing the mainsail once back on the ship and all seemed perfectly fine, and just then he realized how the prideful blonde had actually _asked_ him for help to secure the knots, a task all of them could do even blindfolded.

Chopper insisted on checking Sanji's temperature and auscultate him, which with his finely-tuned hearing he could do just by placing his ear ton the patient's chest, and determined his heart-beating was a little too slow and temperature still quite chill, but neither as severe as to worry about it. He would've liked to run a full battery of tests over the blonde, but he himself wasn't feeling so fine yet, so unlike him he didn't put much of a resistance to just eat his porridge and go back to sleep.

As the little doctor was still feeling uneasy, the brunette offered to take him to the girls' quarters for the night while Zoro stayed with Sanji, who they were unable to wake up, and so they resumed to call it a night.

With Robin and Chopper gone, he bonelessly dozing on her arms, Zoro finally put out the lantern and plopped himself on the mattress again pulling the covers up to his chin. –You airheaded ero-cook, making someone else worry about you…- he mumbled while hugging Sanji's body closer, his chin easily resting on the crook of his neck, and his fingers intertwined with the long golden locks as he distractedly relished on the strong seawater and tobacco scent while slowly drifting to sleep, gently lulled by the rhythmic rocking of the skip.

* * *

 _NOTE: I'm not sure it is easily understandable(?), but when Usopp says he's "swallowed half a Blue", he's referring to one of the 4 seas the Blue Ocean is divided on._

 ** _Freetalk:_**

 _Second chapter done! It took more time than I initially planned, but I kinda felt like re-writing 1_ _st_ _chapter from a more "general" point of view, as it kinda is important to know where things come from on a story's plot, and re-reading last chapter I was like -¿how do the other crew members feel then?-, -¿what would they do?- and so, this just came out like this._

 _I had –and still have- a very specific idea as to how Sanji's condition will evolve, but it's getting a little hard to actually translate into words (?). I hope it'll flow more smoothly as I get some rhythm because, I must admit, this was actually written several days ago, but I kept changing things every time I read it because it just doesn't look accurate enough…! And I'm not extremely satisfied either as how it is now, but just PLS BITCH._

 _Whatever._

 _Thanks to keep reading so far, hope you liked it and please remember I'ld highly appreciate your opinion._


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